Recreational activities involving a variety of water sports typically require participants to transport required equipment therefore. Depending on the size or quantity of the articles or pieces of sports equipment to be transported, it may be necessary to use a carrier arrangement as large as a boat trailer, for example, or as small as a clamping device that may be attached to a load carrier, such as a sports equipment rack for an automobile or similar small vehicle.
Vehicle mounted sports equipment racks are known devices for carrying equipment. Suitable vehicle mounting points for sports equipment racks typically include the rear of a vehicle or the roof of a vehicle. Rear mounted racks and roof racks may be used to transport bicycles, snow skis, snowboards, surfboards, small water craft such as canoes and kayaks and associated accessories including oars, paddles and the like, and such equipment is typically secured to the sport equipment rack by means of clamping assemblies.
For sports such as canoeing or kayaking, there may also be a need to transport a selection or variety of paddles, depending upon the intended use of the watercraft, e.g., for negotiating a relatively calm stretch of water, such as a lake, or surviving the challenges of white water rapids. The need to carry an array of paddles can increase the number of clamping accessories that may be needed. Rack structures that support canoes, kayaks and related components are available from an array of sources and available devices typically have clamping assemblies for securing one or more elongate objects to the load bars of the roof rack. While such clamping assemblies are generally sufficient for transporting paddles, oars and the like, these known assemblies generally do not prevent theft of such equipment. Because improvements in design and selection of materials used for canoe and kayak paddles have caused these types sporting accessories to become increasingly expensive and prone to theft, it is desirable to provide a sports equipment rack that securely retains these types of objects while, at the same time, deterring theft.
While locking shackles are currently available to prevent of minimize theft of elongate objects such as canoe and kayak oars and paddles, masts, fishing rods and the like, many of the known locking shackles do not prevent theft; it is still possible to remove both the shackle together with the equipment from a load bar.
Another problem with known clamping devices and shackles is that they typically comprise hard surfaces that have a tendency to damage equipment during transport, e.g., as may occur as the result of vibration; such damage can include marring or scratching of equipment surfaces, which can compromise the integrity of equipment or performance. Because paddles oars and the like can be expensive, it also is desirable to prevent such damage.
In view of the above-described deficiencies associated with the known clamping devices and securing assemblies, there is a longfelt need to provide an apparatus for a vehicle load carrier that engages an elongate object to secure it to a vehicle load carrier while simultaneously deterring theft of the object and apparatus and preventing and/or minimizing damage to the equipment during transport.